Conventionally, hydrogenation (hydrogenating) reaction of an organic compound and the like has been utilized in various chemical fields and, for example, such hydrogenation reactions are actually utilized as cracking reaction of petroleum in which heavy oil is hydrogenated to obtain gasoline or kerosene and tar fraction is hydrogenised so that it is liquefied to be matched for more purposive use conditions. Further, hydrogenation is utilized in a reaction in which an unsaturated hydrocarbon is converted into a corresponding saturated hydrocarbon, and a reaction in which a halogenated compound is dehalogenated.
In addition, as a method for performing hydrogenation reaction safely and efficiently, there has been known a method in which an organic compound is brought in contact with a metal capable of holding hydrogen such as palladium and hydrogen storage metal alloy.
Further, the aforementioned palladium and many types of hydrogen storage metal alloy have catalysis, and since hydrogen in palladium or other hydrogen storage metals has strong reactivity as active hydrogen, it is said that the palladium and the like function as a hydrogen-supply source and hydrogenation catalyst to exert high function as a method for hydrogenating organic compounds.
However, in the hydrogenation reaction which uses palladium or hydrogen storage metal alloy, since amount of hydrogen that can be absorbed thereinto is limited, there is such a defect that the stored hydrogen is consumed along with progress of the reaction and further reaction does not proceed, thereby allowing only so-called a batch system reaction to proceed. Thus, although there is no problem in a laboratory scale operation, continuous operation is impossible in industrial scales, thereby resulting in much inefficiency.
In order to solve the above-described problem, there are proposed a method in which by using a reaction cell having an anode and a cathode formed in a division plate-like shape and made of a hydrogen storage material, electrolysis is conducted, while allowing an organic compound to contact with the cathode surface on a side not facing the anode, and then active hydrogen generated at the cathode is absorbed and penetrates the cathode to the side not facing the anode to hydrogenate the organic compound; and a technique regarding a reaction cell (Japanese Patent Laid-open Application Publication No. 9-184086).
However, with the aforementioned technique, since a large effective contact area can be obtained between the division plate-like cathode and organic compounds, efficiency of hydrogenation of an organic compound is still insufficient.